Expanding Perspectives on Africa Book by Book

Menu

Timbuctoo, New York

Timbuctoo, New York

“In a small rural cemetery here, a white marble gravestone is the only evidence of a moment in New York State’s history that few people have heard of,

Buried there are the remains of Lyman Epps, a sheep farmer and the most prominent settler of Timbuctoo, a black pre-Civil-War hamlet in the Adirondacks that offered thousands of black men from Brooklyn to Buffalo 40 acres of free land, a gift from a white abolitionist real estate baron.

The abolitionist, Gerrit Smith, gave away 120,000 acres of his land, beginning in 1846, hoping the Adirondack wilderness would offer refuge to black families eager to leave the poverty of urban cities and to acquire the means to vote….” (Christian, Nichole, “North Elba Journal; Recalling Timbuctoo, A Slice of Black History.” New York Times, February 19, 2002)

The name Timbuctoo recalls the famous town in the Mali Empire in West Africa.

NICHOLE M. CHRISTIAN

By NICHOLE M. CHRISTIAN

Discover Africa in…

Coming Soon…

Follow Us:

Support Our Work

Our Programs

Africa Access Review provides annotations and scholarly reviews of children's and young adult books that focus on Africa. More than 100 African Studies scholars are members of our review team.

Children's Africana Book Awards
Africa Access and the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association give annual awards for the best children's and young adult books on Africa available for purchase in the US. More than 70 awards have been presented to authors and illustrators.